In 1865, the defenses surrounding Richmond had been breached, and it was then that the people and government within the city knew that they could no longer defend it. On April 12, 1865, the Union army gave in to the Confederate capital while Jefferson Davis and those who defended the city left on the very last railroad line remaining. Seven days later, on April 9, 1865, the Northern Virginia army surrendered, but Jefferson Davis remained on the run.
It was a sad day on April 14 because that was the day that Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by the now-famous John Wilkes Booth. It wasn’t until May 10th of that same year that the Union cavalry was finally able to catch up to Jefferson Davis and arrest him.
A Hospital For All
The photograph below is of Sister M. M. Joseph. She is accompanied by eight other Sisters of Mercy who worked at the Hammond Hospital, which is located in North Carolina. Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War insisted that they take on a job that was a bit different than the job of most nurses. Early on in the war, the Hammond Hospital was seized by the Union Army.
Sometime later, they revamped it and turned it into a treatment center. The purpose of this hospital was to help the soldiers who had lost a limb in the line of duty. Surgery was not conducted at this facility, as it was meant for soldiers on both sides of the army to come and recover.
The Great Fire
This photograph depicts the very lonely city of Richmond. The Dictator and other guns left the walls here hollowed, and the structures were burnt to bits. This particular photo is a picture of the “Ruins of Haxalls Mills,” and as you can probably tell, it was taken once the war ended. Prior to the war, this mill was known as the best in the entire nation.
The flour produced had such high preservative qualities that the British Navy wanted it. During the Civil War, this is what fed the Confederate army. Ultimately, it was a fire that ended the Haxalls Mills, which was said to have destroyed roughly thirty blocks of Richmond’s business district.
Lee's Mansion Is Now A National Cemetery
The gorgeous grounds at Arlington ended up becoming the United States’ most well-known cemetery for fallen soldiers. The photograph below shows soldiers and their wives who had gathered on the steps above the hill that overlooked Washington, DC. An interesting tidbit of information here is that the mansion belonged to Robert E. Lee.
Prior to his assassination, Lincoln was looking for a place to break ground for a new national cemetery. The Quartermaster General made a suggestion that it be right in the very front of Lee’s residence. The purpose of doing this was to keep Lee from returning back to his home there, and it worked.
"The Boys’ War"
It's estimated that anywhere from 250,000 to 420,000 young boys (17 and under) fought in the American Civil War on both sides. Approximately 100,000 Union soldiers were even younger than 15 years old.
Because of the large number of young soldiers compared to the number of older ones in the Civil War, an author once wrote it “might have been called The Boys’ War.” In this photo, you can see black and white teenage soldiers of the Union army